Friday, December 26, 2014

Author Caldric
Blackwell conceived his latest children’s book, THE BOY WHO COULDN’T CRY WOLF,
as part of a project to help children gain self-confidence, but he’s OK with
children just enjoying a story about a six-year old werewolf who can’t
howl. Reviewers say it’s a
“A short story beautifully written for
children and teaching them how not to worry.”

Blackwell wrote an earlier
story titled The Enchanted River Race,
and is currently working on a
middle grade series called the Young Alchemist series. The first book in this
series, The Missing Alchemist, releases on January 20, 2015 and is available
now for pre-orders. Blackwell lives in central California and in addition to
writing and reading, enjoys hiking, gardening and playing a variety of string
instruments.

Q: Why did you
write THE BOY WHO COULDN’T CRY WOLF? How did you envision the story? Why did
you write a story for children? Are there children in your life who inspired
you to write it?

Caldric Blackwell: The idea for THE BOY WHO COULDN’T CRY WOLFcame
to me a few years ago. At the time, I was doing autism research as an
undergraduate student. I was part of a project that sought to improve
communication skills in children who have autism. During the project, I saw
firsthand how important self-confidence is for children, and I came up with the
idea of writing about a six-year-old werewolf who lacks self-confidence.

Q: Reviewers say
the main character in THE BOY WHO COULDN’T CRY WOLF actually “speaks” to their
four-year-old. How were you able to create a character that 3-6 year olds could
relate to?

Caldric Blackwell:
I was
spending a lot of time with toddlers during the writing process, so I think I
had a good understanding of the age group. I also shared the story with young
readers while finalizing the manuscript, which really gave me insight as to
what does and does not work for that age group.

Q: How relevant is
believability to create credibility for this age group? Does it even matter?

Caldric Blackwell:
I think
the necessity of believability really depends on the specific story, rather
than the target audience. Readers respond to both outrageous and realistic
stories, if they are done well.

Q: For this age
group, how important are the illustrations? Did you conceive the story first
followed by the illustrations?

Caldric Blackwell:
Because a
lot of children in this age group can’t read or are just learning to read,
illustrations can help them visualize what the text is saying. For THE BOY WHO COULDN’T CRY WOLF, the story came before the illustrations, but as I was
writing each page, I was imagining the illustration that would accompany it.

Q: Did you intend
to entertain your young readers and/or deliver a message? Reviewers say there
is a “positive underlying message about worry.” Did
you want to teach children something about themselves?

Caldric Blackwell:
I wrote THE BOY WHO COULDN’T CRY WOLF so that young readers would have
the opportunity to learn something as well as be entertained. As I mentioned
earlier, I created a character who benefits from believing in himself. If the
young reader wants to view that as the take-home message, then great. That
said, I’m equally happy if the young reader just wants to enjoy a fun story
about a young werewolf and not go any deeper than that.

Q:
What do you believe are the most important elements of a children’s story?

Caldric Blackwell:
I don’t think there is a set of elements needed to make a good
children's story. For instance, kids love B. J. Novak’s The Book with No Pictures even though it lacks illustrations. On
the flipside, you have Aaron Becker’s Journey,
an exceptional children’s book even though it lacks text. At the end of the
day, the most important thing is do a good job at whatever approach you decide
to take.

Q:
Have you written other fiction or non-fiction stories for children and/or
adults? What kinds of stories do you like to write?

Caldric Blackwell:
I wrote an early chapter book titled The
Enchanted River Race, which was published in December 2012. It follows the
story of a group of children who race down a magical river on a ship. I like to
write stories that stimulate the imagination.

Q: I
notice that you’re a musician. Do you believe music can help children to learn,
face problems, and/or embrace positive experiences?

Caldric Blackwell:
I believe that both listening to music and playing an instrument have
many benefits for children. Children’s television shows, such as Sesame Street, certainly recognize this,
making songs about everything from saying hello to counting.

Q:
What’s next? Will you write more children’s books? Other stories?

Caldric Blackwell:
I’m currently working on a middle grade series called the Young
Alchemist series. The first book in the series, The Missing Alchemist, comes out January 20, 2015. It’s available
for pre-ordering now. I’m excited to share this book with readers because it’s
so different from the other books I’ve written.

Q:
Tell us about Caldric Blackwell. What do you like to do when you’re not reading
or writing?

Caldric Blackwell:
As you mentioned earlier, I am a musician. I spend a lot of time
learning to play new songs and experimenting with new instruments. I recently
got a traditional Chinese instrument called an erhu, and I’ve been working on
learning how to play it. I also like to spend time outdoors. I particularly
like hiking and rock climbing.

About Caldric
Blackwell

Caldric Blackwell realized
he loved reading when he read about a bunch of people (with single-syllable
names) and their pets (also with single-syllable names) in kindergarten.

Exposure to a host of great authors while studying at the University of
California, Santa Barbara inspired him to begin writing fiction. Although he
began writing short stories for adults, he eventually migrated to writing
children's books. His debut work is an early chapter book titled The Enchanted River Race. His next
release is a picture book, The Boy Who Couldn't Cry Wolf.

Outside of writing, Caldric enjoys hiking,
gardening, and playing a variety of string instruments. Caldric currently
resides in California.

Six-year-old Byron Woodward is a
werewolf who can’t howl. Determined not to embarrass himself after being chosen
to lead a full-moon ceremony, he embarks on a mission to learn how to howl. He
learns a lot about howling during his journey, but more importantly, he learns
a valuable lesson about believing in himself.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Reviewers praise THE FAITHFUL from S. M. Freedman as an “engrossing
and original bit of fiction” and a “very unordinary book. Good
unordinary.” It involves an agent and his search for missing children with
psychic abilities. An Amazon best-seller in the U.S. and U.K., it was also a quarter
finalist in the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

A former private investigator and
business owner, S. M. Freedman now lives in Vancouver with her husband, two
children, and a large yellow cat. (I have one of those, too!) She also studied
acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, but she says
writing is her true love. She is currently working on the sequel to THE FAITHFUL and plans to release it in the first half of 2015.

Q: Reviewers of
THE FAITHFUL tout the vastness of your imagination and even wonder “How far
was she going to push the limits of her imagination?” How did you envision your
“supernatural/suspense/thriller/mystery,” which has been described as
“something for everyone… mystery… SciFi…romance… heartbreak… thrills?” What
inspired your story?

S. M. Freedman: The initial inspiration for THE FAITHFUL came from the meteorite that
exploded above Russia in February 2013. I started to research NASA’s Spaceguard
program, which is charged with finding Near Earth Objects (or NEO’s) before
they impact the earth. My main character became a meteorite hunter, working for
Spaceguard at their facility on the White Sands Missile Range. From there it
grew to encompass an FBI agent obsessed with the kidnapping of hundreds of
psychic children, and a twisted organization bent on Armageddon. How it
actually ended up there is strange magic I just can’t explain.

Q: Reviewers also appreciated your characters as
“vivid” and “real people with deep emotions, foibles, and unexpected humor.”
What makes a “real” character?

S. M. Freedman: Flaws, and lots of them. Each of my characters began as an extension of
me, whether it was my sass and
love of junk food (Ryanne), my determination and ethics (Josh), or my totally
inappropriate sense of humor (Sumner). But at some point, each of them took on
a life of their own, much to my horror and delight. I think that’s when they
became real.

Q: How helpful is humor to engaging readers and
telling your story?

S. M. Freedman: If characters are the meat of your word stew, action and pacing the
vegetables, and vivid imagery the broth that melds it all together, you’re
still missing something without humor. Humor is the salt that enhances all the
other flavors. Without it, the story is pretty bland.

Q: How relevant is the concept of
villains-versus-heroes to telling your story? What are the characteristics of
an effective villain? Do you need a villain to produce a hero?

S. M. Freedman: Without a doubt, THE FAITHFUL is a classic good versus evil tale. But
the truth is so much muddier than that. The best villains have redeeming
qualities; the best heroes have major flaws. In any given circumstance, a hero
can become a villain, and the worst villain can become a hero. It’s what makes
them human, and relatable.

Q: Several reviewers were impressed with your
technical knowledge claiming it “makes it look very realistic and believable.”
How relevant is back-story to creating credibility? Is credibility important to
engaging readers? How else did you deliver believability?

S. M. Freedman: I’m an obsessive researcher. The settings in THE FAITHFUL are real,
right down to the gas stations, hotels and restaurants. For me, it helped to
ground the fantastical parts of the story in that kind of reality. Even the
locals don’t seem to know that the Spaceguard facility actually exists on the
White Sands Missile Range (although I took some creative license and put it
closer to Las Cruces, it’s actually near Socorro). To be fair, it is hard to
find, and men with big guns will try to stop you if you try. Trust me on this
one.

Q: Why did you choose to write the story from
various points-of-view? How helpful was this approach to telling the story?

S. M. Freedman: I honestly couldn’t tell this big a story if I’d stayed in one person’s
head. And it’s fun to let readers in on secrets that other characters don’t
know.

Q: Reviewers say THE FAITHFUL is
“thought-provoking.” Did you write it to tell an entertaining story? To deliver
a message? To educate? To make readers think?

S. M. Freedman: I wish I could pretend I was intellectual enough to have a message, but
honestly, I just wanted to write a good story.

Q:What’s next?

S. M. Freedman: I’m working on the sequel to THE FAITHFUL. If all goes well it should be
available sometime in the first half of 2015.

Q: Tell us about S.M. Freedman. What do you like to
do when you’re not writing?

S.M. Freedman is a top-ranked Amazon author in the Mystery, Thriller and Suspense
categories, and a member of the WorldWiseWriters group. She lives in Vancouver
with her husband, two children and a giant orange cat.

She studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, and
spent years as a private investigator and business owner.

Inspired by authors of many different genres (favorites include Sue Grafton,
Diana
Gabaldon, Jodi Picoult, Stephen King, Justin Cronin, Suzanne Collins and
Lawrence Hill, to name a few) she eventually turned back to her first love: writing.

THE FAITHFUL, a paperback and kindle Amazon Bestseller in both the US and the
UK, and a Quarter Finalist in the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, is her
debut novel. She's currently working on the sequel.

For Agent Josh Metcalf, memories are ghosts. They are blood-soaked
backpacks and the smell of strawberry Chap Stick. Josh is haunted by a little
girl who went missing his first summer on the force. Decades later his search
has become an obsession, and he's pinned the photos of hundreds of missing
children to his wall of tears. All the children had psychic abilities. All the
cases went cold -- with no witnesses, no useful tips, and
no children ever recovered. Until a woman gets injured trying to stop an
abduction, and Josh comes face to face with his personal ghost.

For Rowan Wilson, a meteorite hunter for NASA's Spaceguard
program, memories are lies. The childhood she thought she knew has been erased,
leaving a black hole in its place. New recollections are flaring to life: men
dressed like priests, a ranch in the mountains, mind control, and rape. Each
new memory draws her closer to one of the other missing children, Sumner Macey;
and to I Fidele, the underground organization for whom kidnapping is just the
beginning.

For Sumner, memories have become weapons. He's sharpened each of
his with surgical precision: the ranch, the doctrine, the mind-wash, and the
murders. He's eager to slice at the black sludge pumping through I Fidele's
heart, desperate to cripple those who stole his childhood.

To I Fidele, non-psychics are cockroaches in need of
extermination, an inferior species destroying the earth. They're ready to
enforce eugenics on a global scale. If they succeed, only those faithful to
their doctrine will survive. Crossing several genres, THE FAITHFUL will appeal
to anyone who enjoys supernatural mysteries; high-tech, edge-of-your-seat
suspense flavored with paranormal elements; thrillers involving psychics,
occult and high stakes action/adventure; tied up with a depth and humor usually
reserved for works of literary fiction.

Monday, December 15, 2014

“Filled
with page after page of adventure, chaos and profound action.” That’s how
reviewers describe Darryl Olsen’s science fiction novel PURGATORY ORIGINS: POWERS OF DARKNESS. In the following interview, Olsen explains why his story
is “not a predictable story line,” why it’s full of action, and why he chose Egyptian
archaeological digs and Wyoming mountains as settings.

Olsen
currently lives in Sydney, Australia where he loves to drive his jeep out to the
State Forrest or race his race horses all over Australia. Olsen has also
writtenPURGATORY SOLDIERS OF MISFORTUNE and CHILDREN
OF THE GODS. He is currently working on a novella to follow CHILDREN OF THE
GODS to be released early in 2015; and will then complete the Purgatory Series
with “Purgatory
Origins, Men in Black.”

Don't miss the giveaway opportunity following his interview.

Q: Reviewers applaud the originality of your plot
for PURGATORY ORIGINS: POWERS OF DARKNESS
and claim it’s “not a predictable story line” and
integrates history with science fiction. How did you conceive or envision this
unique plot?

Darryl Olsen: You’re right about PURGATORY
ORIGINS having a “not predictable story line”, I wanted to devise an ending
that the reader could finish, but still make them think about for days after
the read. About 18 months ago I started devising a time travelling science
fiction piece with a basic storyline which flows from the first book titled
Purgatory, Soldiers of Misfortune. But with only a few months left I ended up
changing Purgatory Origins to a prequel rather than a sequel. This process
enables me to create a stand alone piece which subsequently introduced new
characters and scenes to the Purgatory Series.

Q: Reviewer after reviewer talks
about the “nonstop action” of PURGATORY ORIGINS: POWERS OF DARKNESS with its
“relentless passion for adventure” and a “story [that] jumps and dives and
turns over but never falls to the ground.” How do you create this pace? And how
do you give your readers a chance to breathe? Or, do you?

Darryl Olsen: You can breathe after you stop reading.
haha. Yeah I admit the book has a lot of action, but it’s done in such away
that it still holds up as a good read. My passion in reading and writing has
always been action. That’s probably the reason I joined the military when I
left school.

Q: You integrate history into your
story. Did this require research? How relevant is historical accuracy to your
story?

Darryl Olsen: To give myself a basic
understanding of WW2 bombers and refuelling trucks I did find myself
researching mainly through the internet and Google, but I did visit the War
Memorial in Canberra ACT for some pictures. This knowledge gave me a basic
understanding of the times, but the story itself doesn’t dive into the world of
specifications of those machines.

Q: How significant is credibility to
engaging your readers? If it’s important, how do you achieve believability? Or
is it not a key issue for a “time-traveling sci-fi saga?”

Darryl Olsen: Your main role as an author is to
engage the reader. The best way to engage the reader is to grab their attention
in the first few chapters. The best way to grab their attention is to give them
characters they believe and follow. Once you give the storyline good strong
characters, you can put those same characters in situations like time travel and
horror. This process makes the characters believable. But your base is always
the welfare of those characters, make them believable but bend the world around
them.

Q: Why do readers care about your
“well-formed” characters? How do you create characters in your world? Do you
base them on people in the real world?

Darryl Olsen: The main characters are a mix of
people I know and have read about, but they are not specific to any one person.
I like mixing my characters up for each story, I’ll create characters I love
and follow, then I’ll throw in those which make you dislike and cringe. Its
like working for large companies, you are all there for the same result, but
you don’t necessarily get along with everyone.

Darryl Olsen: Those locations I picked suit those
scenarios in the story the best. I looked at so many rural suburbs when
researching my book and finally settled on Wyoming as my rural retreat. It
offered that unique laidback lifestyle with a dense forest nearby. I also
couldn’t pass on the opportunity to mention the archaeological dig sites around
Egypt, it was an area that everyone would recognise and affiliate with ancient
history.

Q: Whenever Nazis occur in a book, I
ponder why and how they existed to do the inhuman things they did. Did you
intend to deliver a message or did you write the story strictly to entertain?

Darryl Olsen: The reason I chose the Nazis was
for the fact I needed a group desperate enough and willing to sell their soul
in a last minute effort to win a losing war. This is the reason I send the
Nazis to Purgatory as they plan on bringing back secrets, which they can later
transform into deadly weapons.

Q: You tend to appreciate and enjoy
horror or exploring the “what if” of horrific characters and events. Do you see
“life” this way? Or do you – like Stephen King – just appreciate a good horror
story? What else do you like to read besides science fiction and horror?

Darryl Olsen: I do love a good horror story, but
I also wanted the reader to think about the scenario where they themselves are
one of the main characters. I love everything action, so if it’s a good read,
coupled with heaps of action chances are I have probably read it. My favourite
read is a story about the British SAS titled Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNAB.

Q: What’s next?

Darryl Olsen: I’m in the process of writing a
short novella, which will follow from CHILDREN OF THE GODS. This should be
released early next year. I will then complete the Purgatory Series with the
next instalment titled Purgatory Origins, Men in Black.

Q: Tell us about Darryl Olsen. What
do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Darryl Olsen: I live in Sydney Australia. I love
taking my Jeep out in the State Forest. I also love football and motor sport. I
own a number of racehorses that race all around Australia but that’s another
story in itself. I’m a massive film junkie and read at least one book every
fortnight.

About Darryl Olsen

Darryl
Olsen is a Sydney based author of titles including PURGATORY SOLDIERS OFMISFORTUNE, CHILDREN OF THE GODS, and PURGATORY ORIGINS: POWERS OF DARKNESS. Darryl
was first introduced to the world of fiction whilst schooling on the Mid North
Coast of New South Wales. After a short period of school Darryl Olsen found his
true calling in life as he enlisted in the Australian Army.

For more information about Darryl and his upcoming books please go to
www.darrylolsen.com or you can contact him on darryl@darrylolsen.com

About PURGATORY ORIGINS: POWER OF DARKNESSAustralian sci-fi author Olsen continues his
Purgatory series, knitting together a disparate menagerie of time-travelling
Nazis, escaped serial killers, dog-headed monsters and Corsican gangsters in a
far-out tale that reads like a mash up of Raiders of the Lost Ark and 24.

When Professor Harrison
Standish, a bookish young archaeologist inadvertently stumbles upon an ancient
burial chamber in Egypt, he is baffled to find symbolism inside that would
appear to date from two different historical periods, thousands of years apart.
Suspecting the tomb had been tampered with at some point in the distant past,
Professor Standish soon discovers the skeletons of ten half-human/half-canine
creatures lying in a far corner of the chamber and his initial bafflement now
turns to shock. What kind of ancient madman would be conducting such a horrific
experiment?

As Dr. Standish endeavors to explain this mystery over the ensuing days, he
happens upon a news report, suggesting that these same grotesque,
half-human/half-canine creatures have come to life in the remote mountains of
Wyoming and he is immediately on the next flight. By the time he arrives in
Wyoming, a World War II Nazi bomber has materialized out of the sky and crashed
off the coast of France and a Nazi general named Schmitz has stumbled into the
21st century, leaving behind evidence of his presence in Professor Standish's
ancient burial chamber back in Egypt, all of which sets the stage for a
rollicking, nonstop, modern day fantasy/sci-fi adventure.

The cast of characters in Purgatory: Origins includes Rachael, a pesky, auburn
haired New York magazine correspondent, who is known equally for her ability to
sink her teeth into a story and her unwillingness to let it go, Jason Kendall,
an escaped rapist and killer who falls hard for Rachael when they cross paths
and turns out to have a past with our half human creatures, and Harper, the
ex-special forces FBI agent, whose primary goal is finding Jason Kendall,
getting him back behind bars and keeping him there for the rest of his life but
soon finds himself sucked into this mystery woven of ancient symbolism, old
Nazi war criminals and otherworldly creatures.

As with Soldiers of Misfortune, the first installment of the Purgatory series,
Purgatory: Origins, The Prequel, presents an alternative universe that is as
real as your Sunday morning paper, yet one that quickly leads to swashbuckling
adventures. Purgatory: Origins. An alternative universe you enter with no hope
of escaping, a book you pick up with little hope of putting it back down.

Excerpt

“Sir, you’d
best get up here. They’ve found something and according to the captain of the
search boat, it’s very strange.”

Jacques got to
his feet wearily.

“Please wait
here,” he said to the father and son. “I will return soon.”

Back up on the
Préfet Maritime vessel, the inspector grabbed the radio receiver.

“Yes, this is
Inspector Mitterand. What it is you’ve found?”

“Sir, we have
located a plane on the sea bed that fits the general description and dimensions
that your two witnesses described. It’s in about 50 meters of water.”

“Very well,
send your divers down and get back to me once they’ve had a closer look.”

Jacques had
started to hang up but heard a voice coming through the receiver.

“Yes, what it
is?”

“Sir, there is
more.”

“There is more
what?”

“The plane
appears to be balancing on a deep ocean trench.”

“And your point
is?”

“Sir, there is
no deep ocean trench in this area. At least there should not be. I have worked
the waters off this coast for many years and have never heard of such a thing.
I can assure you it doesn’t exist on any of the ocean charts we have.”